


Liberation

by ilerya82



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 18:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4148808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilerya82/pseuds/ilerya82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All magic comes with a price...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liberation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the cs writing challenge on tumblr.

“It shouldn’t have come to this.”

Bodies littered the ground before them as far as the eye could see.  The wave of magic that had erupted from her when Merlin finished expelling the Dark One from her body was more than she could bear.  Magic always came with a price, and this time that price was death. 

“Magic can’t bring them back… I know that rule.  I just wish that they hadn’t been taken so that my life could be saved!  They didn’t deserve to die!”

Only two figures remained standing in the horizon – Emma and Merlin.  The streets were paved with the bodies of her friends, her loved ones… Her family.  They didn’t deserve to die so that she could live alone, that was the cruelest consequence of all!  It wasn’t fair – it was _her_ who should be dead!

“If I’d known this was going to happen…”

The wizard regarded his young charge with a know-it-all smirk.  Was he taunting her?  Was he mocking her pain?  Her family had crossed realms, faced more dangers than she could count to find her – to find Merlin – and to vanquish the darkness.  Why should they be dead?  Why couldn’t they live in a world that was free of the darkness too?  Why was it only her?

“What makes you think they’re dead, my girl?”

“They’re – they’re not?”

The Sorcerer chuckled as he regarded her pained expression.  This was an honourable woman and that was why she’d been strong enough to resist the darkness and fight it off.  Emma was indeed a worthy Saviour with the purest of hearts, but she had grown up too far from magic to truly understand and grasp it’s finer details by living in the realm she had for all these years. 

“No, my dear,” Merlin shook his head and sighed, “They are merely sleeping.  Once the darkness was expelled from your body, it searched in vain for somewhere to anchor itself whilst I was engaging it.  It couldn’t find a more suitable host – everyone here was thinking only of you and how you deserved to have your happy ending, or rather your happy beginning more than most.”

She knew how much they all cared for her – had not doubted that the second she had raised the dagger in to the air and tethered the Dark One to her own soul – but had never really known what they could possibly do to save her.  All they had needed, it seemed, was to be there to support and love her.  She could see her parents, fallen hand in hand to one side.  Regina and Robin who were curled together a little closer to them – their hands together with fingers so tightly entwined there was nothing that could pull them apart.  Then there was Henry – her sweet, wonderful boy who had risked so much to be here.  She listened to see if she could hear their breathing, if she could sense their lives with her magic. 

“So, it’s kind of like Sleeping Beauty?  A sleeping curse?”

“Quite right,” Merlin smiled and gestured towards the figure closest to her own, “True Love is the most powerful magic of all.”

Killian.  He was the closest one to her.  She could remember bits and pieces of the brawl to win her freedom from the darkness.  He had kept advancing on her, telling her that he would not give up on her, never would he dare.  He would follow her to the ends of all realms, or time and he would follow her in to death if that was the only way to free her from the darkness.   

She was free.   They had saved her, they had come for her.  They had fought the darkness together by being a source of pure love. 

She’d wanted to ask him if it would work this time, though she knew she didn’t need to.  He wouldn’t have gestured to him if it would fail.  Her feet carried her towards him.  She sank down to her knees and Emma could feel something between them even now.  It was like a string, tethering their hearts together.  She brushed the hair from his forehead with her left hand as she caressed his cheek with her right. 

“It should work this time, my girl.  Neither of you has any walls standing in the way of your hearts anymore.”

Leaning in she whispered, “Killian, come back to me,” before pressing her lips to his.  It only took a moment for her to feel the magic rolling through them and all around.  He opened his mouth to her, deepening the kiss and she felt his arms wrap about her body.  He was pulling her closer, as though he couldn’t bear to have any inch of her not connected with him.  She felt whole, and full of light. 

Around them, there was laughter and joyous applause.  Embarrassment, and a sense of modesty, would have normally made her break free from such a passionate embrace sooner, but she couldn’t bring herself to end the kiss.  Coming up for air, she lifted her head and surveyed the scene before her.  Friends, relatives, Merlin all gathered together to celebrate the liberation of the realm from the curse of the Dark One and a proclamation of True Love.     

“And I love you, Swan.”

Her attentions turned back to the beautiful specimen of a man trapped beneath her, grinning like the Cheshire cat, Emma whacked his shoulder playfully. 

“C’mon Pirate, let’s go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> This one can stand alone but it also fits within the Hope universe.


End file.
